Press Release
Media Contact: Kevin Wilson, kwilson@kevinwilsonpr.com,
513.885.5520
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Columbus Consulting Earning Respect Among
Notables in Retail Space
Company announces Saks
Fifth Avenue as new client and adds four industry experts
to help support growing demand for consulting services
COLUMBUS, Ohio – May 23, 2005
– Boasting clients such as American Eagle Outfitters,
Ann Taylor, Big Lots, CVS Pharmacy and New York & Company,
Columbus Consulting, Inc. has quickly become a force of industry
experts that is earning respect from many of the notables
in the U.S. and international retail industry. The company
offers a variety of business expertise and services designed
to help improve a retailer’s merchandising systems and
processes, from planning and allocation, supply chain, to
reporting and analysis.
Columbus Consulting today announced that
it has been hired by Saks Fifth Avenue to help the renowned
retailer re-engineer its merchandise planning process. Saks
Fifth Avenue is part of Saks Incorporated, one of the nation’s
premiere retail enterprises operating 382 stores in 40 states,
with more than $6 billion in annual revenues and 50,000 service
associates. As part of the project, Columbus Consulting will
also assist Saks in selecting a new merchandising planning
system, which will be critical in helping the retailer implement
and maintain a profitable merchandising process. The first
phase of the project, which began in April 2005, marks the
first engagement for Columbus Consulting at Saks.
In response to the growing demand for its
consulting services, Columbus Consulting recently added four
industry experts who will be responsible for supporting existing
contracts and several major new projects.
“We are successful in helping large
retail organizations because we have put together a unique
and diverse team of proven leaders and experts who understands
the ins and outs of the retail industry, including both merchandising
process and technology,” said Richard Amari, president
of Columbus Consulting. “We have been experiencing solid
growth in the past 18 to 24 months and are establishing a
presence in the competitive retail consulting industry. Much
of this success can be attributed to our significant expertise
in the industry combined with positive referrals from our
clients. These clients, which include some of today’s
most successful retailers, depend on us to manage critical
projects and to deliver results on time and within budget.”
The Columbus team of Richard Amari, Jon Beck,
Mike Downing, Don Poirier, and Richard von Hirschberg are
industry veterans, each with decades of retail experience.
The company recently expanded with the appointments of, Ken
Knop, Stuart Tattum, Drew Achabal, and Marc Reifeis as senior
consultants.
- Knop has more than 20 years of
retail merchandising experience, working with many of the
nation’s leading retailers, including Sears Roebuck,
Payless ShoeSource, L.L. Bean and Neiman Marcus. Prior to
joining Columbus, Knop served as vice president of business
process consulting for Planalytics, where he was responsible
for complex implementations of inventory planning and control
systems, and business processes at retailers and manufacturers
nationwide. He also held various management and director-level
positions specializing in merchandise planning, allocation
and distribution at Comshare, Contempo Casual, Hub Distributing
and Mervyn’s. Knop earned a bachelor’s degree
in mathematics and applied science from the University of
California at Los Angeles where he graduated magna cum laude.
He then earned a master’s degree in business administration
from the University of California at Berkeley.
- Tattum is a 20-year retail software
veteran and began his career at Next, where he was a founding
member of the team that developed the initial versions of
the Arthur Planning, Assortment Planning and Decision Support
applications. He also managed the design and implementation
of the Arthur Planning and Decision Support applications
at numerous major retailers and wholesalers, and directed
the design, development and global roll-out of the initial
versions of the Arthur Allocation application. Prior to
joining Columbus, Tattum was responsible for retail planning
services sales and marketing at Planalytics, and developed
and enhanced partnerships with retail software and consulting
companies. Prior clients include, Ann Taylor, Neiman Marcus,
Target Stores and Wilsons Leather. He earned a bachelor’s
of science honors degree from The University of Leeds in
England.
- Achabal is an experienced retail
consultant and comes to Columbus after serving for five
years as engagement manager and senior retail planning consultant
at Planalytics, where he was responsible for managing the
day-to-day customer relationship for Gap, Inc. He has overseen
critical assortment planning implementations, including
system planning and design at several major retailers. Achabal
earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Santa Clara
University in Santa Clara, Calif.
- Reifeis is an experienced, senior-level
retail executive who began his career with KPMG/Peat Marwick,
LLP. During the past 13 years, he has held progressively
more senior roles across the Limited Brands organization,
including work in Victoria’s Secret stores. Major
accomplishments include the implementation of an enterprise
data warehouse and leading enterprise human resource and
payroll systems. Reifies earned a bachelor’s of science
degree in computer information science – engineering
from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
“We are excited about adding Stuart,
Ken, Marc and Drew to our team and look forward to their contributions
to the ongoing success of Columbus Consulting,” added
Amari. “Each person brings unique talents, as well as
significant retail experience that will help us to serve our
clients better and expand our reach. Among our team members
are individuals who led the development of the world’s
leading merchandise planning applications, and conceived and
advocated system concepts and business processes relating
to merchandise planning and allocation that are today accepted
as industry best practices. With more than 150 years of combined
experience in the retail industry, we have a unique understanding
of implementing effective and efficient merchandising systems
that have helped multi-million and multi-billion dollar organizations
improve their business processes.”
About Columbus Consulting, Inc.
Founded by industry veteran Richard Amari in 2001, Columbus
Consulting, Inc. is comprised of a team of highly experienced
specialists in retail systems and processes. The company works
with many of the world’s largest and well-known retailers,
general merchandisers and apparel stores, including American
Eagle Outfitters, Ann Taylor, Big Lots, CVS Pharmacy, and
New York & Company. Columbus Consulting is called upon
to provide a variety of services, from managing short-term,
high-impact, executive-level advisory services on matters
of strategic importance relating to retail systems and processes,
to overseeing large, multi-disciplinary, multi-million dollar
projects, lasting more than a year. The company is based in
Columbus, Ohio. For more information on Columbus Consulting,
visit www.columbusconsultinginc.com.
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